Opalite

by Viola Grace

  Table of Contents

  Opalite

  Opalite has struggled to keep her self contained while she travels and retrieves lost humans. Meeting up with a shackled dragon male has upset her attempts to keep her lift under her control. When her association with him gets the attention of her handlers, the humans charge her with manhandling one of their own. Defending herself would be hard enough with one witness on her side, but alone against the humans, what chance does a dragon swan have?

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Opalite

  Copyright © 2011 Tianna Xander and Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-55487-921-2

  Cover art by Martine Jardin

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Devine Destinies

  An imprint of eXtasy Books

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  www.devinedestinies.com

  Opalite D.A.R.E.

  D.A.R.E. Project 4

  By

  Tianna Xander and Viola Grace

  In case you missed Ruby DARE…

  In Ruby DARE, we met the dragons living on a world not their own, living a life that is only a bare existence in an underground facility.

  The people of earth have set the destruction of their planet in motion, creating a device that has enabled them to use a dimensional gateway to walk between worlds. What they didn't know, couldn't know, was that each person transported punched a hole in the stability of their world, each transport weakening the dimensional fibres that allowed their world to remain intact.

  Thirty years ago, a woman who was not human walked through a rift and warned them of the problem that would emerge with their technology. She was arrested, incarcerated and when it was found that she was pregnant, her children were removed and experimented on themselves.

  This split the four embryos into twenty and the young girls were raised underground with no knowledge of who or what they were.

  These girls grew into women who became part of the D.A.R.E. project. Dimensional, Arrest, Retrieval and Extraction, these women travel from world to world to bring back the travellers, prisoners and escapees from earth to hopefully heal the wounds that the humans have made.

  The D.A.R.E. project women had no knowledge of their origins aside from what their mother gave them, that is. Eiwyn kept her bond with her daughters while her body was in suspended animation in a lower level of the facility.

  Eiwyn is a seer and left her husband to bring her daughters to adulthood without the interference of her kind. Her husband would have used her daughters for political alliances, but she foresaw a different destiny and came to earth so that they could have it.

  When Ruby met her male on assignment, Eiwyn breathed a metaphorical sign of relief.

  Despite her confidence in her abilities, having a foreseen outcome come to pass was reassuring.

  Now, with one daughter safely away, there were only nineteen more dragons to go and she could leave this boring, backward world to its destiny, for better or worse.

  And in case you missed Topaz DARE…

  Topaz found her mate in the eastern dragon, Kirai. When it was time to remove the technological leash that the lab had placed under her skin, a horrible twist was discovered that put all of the dragonets' lives in danger.

  Topaz's attachment to her duty gets in the way of Kirai's courtship, but dragons are nothing if not clever and together they find common ground in a new dimension.

  And if you managed to miss Emerald DARE…

  Emerald became the object of desire of two dragons, one of whom disappeared before she could reject him. She located her lost sisters and a male of her own while battling nature and a planet in the throes of its own demise.

  Aegon is tall, handsome and has no problem with helping her keep the humans flowing home as long as he can stay at her side.

  Chapter One

  The silence of the world was unnatural. Opalite had never been in a dimension that was this quiet.

  The grasses were green, the sun was high and there was no sound from any bird or insect in the air. She was getting seriously creeped out.

  Her scanner showed the nine signals she was tracking to be a kilometer ahead. Nothing was visible on the surface, but she forged ahead with a swing in her step.

  Mother had whispered knowledge of her sisters' whereabouts while she was getting her pre-assignment medical scans. I trust in your calm, Opalite. You need to know that your sisters are alive, well and in the company of their mates.

  Mates? They don't have mates.

  They do now. The dragons know that you are out there and they are eager to find you and your sisters for the purpose of life bonds.

  Aren't there other females for them?

  Not really. It was why I came to Earth and allowed them to split my daughters into quints. Our people do not produce that many females. Your lineage also makes you quite a catch.

  With that eye-opening discovery, Opalite had put on a solemn look until she made it through her portal and then engaged in a series of cartwheels and a mild amount of frolicking.

  It was after her expression of joy that she noticed the peculiar silence of the new world.

  She settled into a steady jog through the grasses and kept a watchful eye on the scanner. The signals were moving around but not much. Wherever they were, they were tightly together, possibly in a small space.

  A hillock was the only item in the large field where the signal was strongest. Opalite approached it warily and kept an eye out for anything that would tell her how to get below it. The signals were under her feet but still moving. Her instincts told her that the humans were still alive down there, but she had no idea how to get to them.

  "Dammit!"

  She knelt and pounded her fists against the ground. Her left fist struck turf, but her right smacked metal beneath its green cover.

  "What the hell?"

  She used touch to find her way around the edge of the metal cap, finding a soft spot that sunk as she pressed it. A hiss emanated from the ground and there was a wet tearing sound as the scent of damp dirt filled the air. With glacial slowness, a hatch opened right in the middle of the meadow.

  Not one to turn down an invitation, Opalite jumped through the hatch and descended into darkness.

  Her scanner gave her a clear readout, leading her farther into the darkness. She blinked frantically and her eyes adjusted to the dimmer light. It was a trick she had learned on her third assignment, the world of eternal night.

  Her night vision was different from her day vision. The walls and rough floor of the tunnel she walked through were a medium green. Any living thing would glow a bright neon.

  A light at the end of the tunnel made her flick her vision back to normal. She moved forward silently, listening to the minute noises that were emerging from the brighter portion of the cavern.

  A man was sitting at a table in the middle of a
huge room. He was writing in a huge book and checking another before making additional notes. His sleeveless shirt showed markings that were similar to the ones marking Opalite's own arms. He could be one of her kind.

  "Welcome, daughter of Eiwyn. Please, be seated."

  She jumped as he spoke. "How do you know who I am?"

  He turned and pinned her in place with a soulless gaze. His eyes were a solid black instead of having a colored iris.

  "The rumor of the daughters of Eiwyn travelling the worlds is rapidly becoming common knowledge."

  She walked carefully forward and took a seat in the chair he gestured to. "May I ask to whom I am speaking?"

  "Kros, at your service." He bowed from the waist.

  "Opalite, member of the D. A. R. E. project. I am here looking for nine humans."

  "I have them. It will be a pleasure to get them off my hands. Feeding them is tiresome." He nodded.

  A dark sense of unease crept through her. There was something about this man that was not right.

  She pressed her scanner and it let out a chirp. "I am appreciating our meeting, but I need to get those humans home. I have a schedule and if I go beyond it, I experience crippling pain."

  His features twisted as if he thought the possibility of her in pain was tempting. "Humor me for a while and tell me if you would agree to taking me on as a mate."

  Under the table, she prepared the new sedative gun that she had been given. She aimed it at his thigh and spoke as she pulled the trigger and held it down. "I have to say that I couldn't consider any male who lived in a cave. I have lived underground my whole life and I don't care for it."

  The repeating thwap of the needles striking his thigh preceded his jump and snarl as they dumped their payload into his system. He was almost to Opalite when he fell to the table, face first.

  "Excellent. I wasn't sure that it would work."

  She got to her feet, trembling with nerves. Her scanner was telling her that the humans were fifty yards ahead and she was determined to find them.

  The smell told her she was on the right track before she rounded the corner to see the ragged and bruised humans in a large but firmly locked cage.

  She held up the new badge that she had been given and presented it to them. "I am Opalite of the D. A. R. E. project and I am here to take you safely home."

  They sobbed and one of the women pointed down the hall. "What about him?"

  "Him?"

  "He likes to torture the man down the hall. They are marked the same, but the man on the wall was trying to help us. It was because of us that he got caught." The blonde was filthy, but she was earnest.

  "Fine. I am about to open a portal to Earth. Walk through it and you will receive medical care. I will attempt to release your companion."

  She focused and opened a doorway within the cell. They ran through in short order, the stronger helping the weak.

  With her humans home, she closed the portal and went further down the hall. Her scent caught dirt and sweat, but something else that was far more appealing. She searched the darkness and found him, as they said, chained to a wall. He had been tortured by Kros and was hanging unconscious.

  She tried to unlatch his chains before checking the walls behind her for the key. It hung high, but she could reach it if she jumped.

  When she returned from an upward hop and turned, her unconscious companion had woken.

  "Who are you?" his words were slurred and his eyes were swollen shut and bloody, but he still tried to raise his head.

  "I am Opalite of the Dimensional Arrest, Retrieval and Extraction force. I have sent the humans home and now I am trying to unlock you."

  His voice was so deep it was almost inaudible, but she felt it to her toes. "It won't work, I can't get away."

  "I will help you." She started to work on his ankles and worked her way up the chains until she was working on the last cuff on his wrist.

  "Thank you, but you don't know where I live."

  She smiled in the darkness and formed a plan. "Show me where the healer who is the mate of my sister lives and I will take you there."

  "Good enough."

  The image of a bright home with an open view of all surrounding areas was in her mind.

  The instant that he used her for assistance to get to his feet, she took a few steps until she opened her portal to the home of the image.

  Daylight flooded them and she was able to see the face of the victim for the first time. His hair was dark and matted with blood, his marks were fierce, highlighting his cheekbones and giving his lips a cruel twist.

  The rest of him was solid, abused and torn muscle. He had been tortured for quite some time.

  "Hello! Hello! I need some help here."

  A dragon male with only a towel wrapped around his hips came to her. "Good lord. Opalite, if I don't miss my guess."

  "You have guessed right. Now, this man needs your help. A man named Kros has been torturing him."

  The man whose arm was over her shoulder jumped. "He said his name was Kros?"

  "Yes."

  "That is my name. A nickname. Short for Kronos. He wanted me blamed." The weak man could still not open his eyes and the frustration was evident.

  "Can you help him?"

  The man in the towel hadn't moved. "Of course, but not if you stay here. There are far too many males out there who want a crack at one of the daughters or Eiwyn, it would be too tempting. Best for you to go home and check on him another day."

  Kros leaned his head down until it touched hers. "Look for me here. No one else will bother you here. I will return to my home in a few days. More than that and I will come looking for you. I have been to Earth before, so I will find you."

  A strange pulse started in her belly when she heard that. "Fine, I will go back and wait for my next assignment. I will try to visit after that if I have time."

  Kros's face was covered with blood, jagged cuts and still he touched her chin and moved her head for a kiss. She opened her eyes wide as heat and warmth spilled through her in equal measure. The musk that she had picked up on in the tunnel was stronger now. She was sure that she could track him with her eyes closed.

  "I will see you again, Kros."

  He grinned though it opened a cut. "And I will see you for the first time. Good day, Opalite."

  Bemused, she touched her lips and moved through her portal. It had been a good day indeed.

  Chapter Two

  At least it had been a good day right up until she returned to the compound and found Janus waiting for her in the debarkation room.

  "Well, well. At least one of the sisters knows how to return home to repay her debt."

  Don't listen to a word he says, dearling, her mother said through their bond. You owe them nothing. It is they who owe you for your willingness to continually put yourself in harm's way to right their great wrong.

  Her mother's words soothed her temper. Opalite glowered at the odious man who stood leering at her. She pressed her lips together and ignored him as she strode past him to her handler.

  Sela stood still, her dark brown eyes looking forward. No one could tell by the woman's stiff stance that she cared for the sisters more than she let on. The older woman never showed affection. She couldn't. Showing any kind of friendship to the dragon sisters was a ticket on the fastest transport out of the compound. The diminutive handler, all of five-feet-two-inches tall, acted just as was expected of her.

  Her face expressionless, Sela stepped forward, a three-shelved cart at her side. "Opalite, please remove your gear and place it here." She flicked a nervous gaze to Janus who continued to leer at them both and lick his lips. "Janus will wheel the cart down to the weapons room when you have finished."

  "Whatever you say." Opalite shrugged. Why should she care that they removed an extra step? She started stripping the scanners and other tools from the belt and holster she wore. "It's not like I like carrying it around. This junk is heavy anyway and I am tired." Opalite didn't ha
ve a bit of trouble carrying the gear, but no one knew that fact other than her sisters.

  She lifted her brow in the mocking way she knew made Sela nervous. "Is there a reason you no longer expect me to pack the weapons down the hall as usual?"

  Was that sarcasm she heard in the inflection of her voice? She hoped so. Opalite had wanted to try her hand at being sarcastic for some time. She studied the human for a reaction and sighed when one was not forthcoming.

  Opalite knew Sela wouldn't react until they were alone and Janus never appeared to have any personality beyond being a bossy, lecherous pig.

  "Stop complaining, Opalite, and finish removing the gear." Janus glared at Sela as though he were something more than a mere tech. "Do you always allow her to treat you this way?"

  Sela bristled. "And what would you have me do, Janus? You know as well as I that she could break every bone in my body…" she paused for a moment, just long enough to let her words sink in and give the tech time to think about his actions and any repercussions that could arise. "Would you like to say something?" She waved toward Opalite. "Perhaps you would like a chance to teach my subject how to be more respectful."

  Opalite wanted to grin as she watched the color drain from Janus's face. Instead, she continued to slowly remove her gear as though nothing was amiss. Reaching down, she unstrapped the nylon and leather holster from her legs, then unbuckled the waist. The belt slid from around her body and Opalite unceremoniously dropped it on the metal cart with a loud clang.

  "There you are." She gave the tech a look that made him tremble and step back though he continued glaring at her. At least the glare was better than his previous leer. "Is there anything else, or can we get moving?" Opalite couldn't wait to get to her room. She wanted to think about what happened on her last assignment. She had met two male dragons!

  She barely noticed the doctor as she suffered through the routine return examination. The doctor, a new woman who had just joined the team of scientists, seemed nice enough. The woman even said something about Opalite's brain scan, then shredded the document before making a copy of the previous scan. Then the doctor steered her to the door and told her to go to bed.